A Broken Trust
by Ren Kayashima
Summary: Trust is a thing that bonds people. When broken, people get hurt. Emily and Dave find themselves talking in dimly lit piano bar after her return. Written for Chit Chat on Author's Corner Round 14 All the Colors of the  Rainbow Challenge.


Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: General

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: Alas my top secret mission to steal the rights to Criminal Minds failed. At the last minute my repel line broke and I was arrested for trespassing on ABC ground. If you would like to help me with bail money…

Written for Chit Chat on Author's Corner Round 14 All the Colors of the Rainbow Challenge.

Selected Character: David Rossi

Assigned Character: Emily Prentiss

Suggested Sentence: **The pianist's fingers ghosted over the keys, haunting melodies combined with the black sheen of the piano giving the bar an almost mystical feel**. **Suggested by: .Name**

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October 23, 2011

Dave sat in a quiet piano bar, lost in thought. Emily's return to the team threw a kink in the current dynamics, and Dave needed a place to think. Some place far from the BAU. He looked down at his Scotch glass and let out a sigh.

The bar was dark and in the middle of the room was a sleek baby grand. A young pianist sat at the piano, playing softly. The pianist's fingers ghosted over the keys, haunting melodies combined with the black sheen of the piano giving the bar an almost mystical feel. It was relaxing and Dave felt some of the built up tension in his shoulders dissipate.

Dave looked towards the front door as it was pulled open. The woman who had just walked in kept her head down as she looked for her wallet in her purse. The senior agent watched her carefully and glanced briefly at the empty seat beside him. He looked up again to find the woman standing stalk still as they looked each other in the eye.

Dave could see that she was fighting an inner battle. Should she come and sit down by him, or should she sit at the other end of the bar. Dave turned in his bar stool to face her just a little bit more. He rested an elbow on the arm of the stool and gestured for the new arrival to take the seat open next to him.

The woman hesitantly stepped forward and Dave took in everything he could see. Her straight black hair had been windswept after walking outside. Her cheeks were flushed after coming in from the cold. She wrapped up in a wool sweater.

Emily Prentiss slid into the tall bar stool next to David Rossi and laughed in a halfhearted attempt to lighten the mood. "Fancy meeting you here," she said as she started picking at her nails.

"I don't know about you," Dave began. "But I like the atmosphere of a bar sometimes."

He didn't want to judge Emily, but it was hard sometimes. He had had a feeling that she wasn't actually dead, but that didn't mean he wasn't irked to be kept out of the dark. He supposed that he could blame what he wanted to say on the Scotch's ability to loosen his mind, and his mouth. For him, it was a betrayal to have Emily hop on a plane to Paris after everything the team had done for her in Boston.

The teams worked as a team because there was a trust among the members. They were always working together, and there was a lot about their team the relied on that trust. When Emily disappeared and went to Paris, that close feeling, that trust, just vanished.

"It's nice here," Emily nodded. "The music is very… soulful," she explained as she glanced over at the pianist.

"What brings you to this particular bar in D.C?" Dave asked.

"The bartender at my old bar didn't get the memo that I was actually alive," Emily sighed. "I decided to find a new haunt after he threatened to pull his shot gun out."

"A lot of people didn't get the memo," Dave grunted as he blankly started ahead. He took a small sip of his drink.

"So, I take it you're angry with me too?" Emily asked. "Of all the bars in D.C, I had to step into this one."

"I'm not angry. I understand why you went to Paris. I understand not telling the team about your past with Ian Doyle before you joined the BAU," Dave summarized. "However, I don't understand why you still kept the Doyle situation under wraps after you saw Reid's sketch of the tattoo. I don't understand how you could so easily let half the team think you were dead."

"Rossi, I-"

"I'm not done," Dave stopped her by hold a hand up. Prentiss closed her mouth and stared at Rossi's hand for a moment. "This team is pretty much all I have, Prentiss. We work as a team because we believe in the other members. We trust each other. By faking your death, our team fractured slightly. And it's not going to be easy to fix it."

Prentiss looked down at the table. She didn't know what to say to the senior agent. It was clear that Morgan was still a little upset. Reid hadn't even spoken to her outside of a case setting. Now, she realized that Rossi too was upset. Even after he smiled and slightly joked at the wall of fallen heroes. Looking back, she could see that the smile had been forced and in no way sincere.

What was she supposed to say? Sorry just didn't seem to cut it in this fragile situation. She hurt her family, and only time would help heal the wounds she had left in her team member's hearts.

"So, are you going to order a drink or just sit there feeling sorry for hurting us?" Dave grunted. "You can start fixing things between the two of us by sharing a drink."

Prentiss stared at him before quickly ordering a draft beer. She had been given another chance to make things right with at least one member of her team. Baby steps would be the way to go in such a delicate situation. She could do baby steps.

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Author's Note: This piece came from the premiere, and I just tweaked it a bit after watching last night's episode. This was a challenge piece for Chit Chat on Author's Corner. All prompts are listed before the story. I hope you enjoyed it.

**Quick Note: The nomination process for the annual Profiler's Choice Awards are going on until the fifteenth of October. This is an awards show to honor your favorite Criminal Minds fanfics and the authors who write them. You can find the nomination ballot on the Chit Chat on Author's Corner forum here on . Show your favorite stories some love by nominating them for one of the 47 awards available. **

Anyway, I'll let you guys get to submitting a review because you know how much I enjoy seeing what you think.

Ren


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